Rybkin told the radio station Echo of Moscow that “I haven’t disappeared anywhere.”

“I decided not to listen to the radio and TV” for a few days, Rybkin said. “I decided to go to Kiev to visit friends.”

Rybkin, 57, said he was “shocked” when he read Russian newspapers on Tuesday and saw that his absence was being given wide attention.

He failed to turn up for a news conference Friday and missed his official registration as a candidate Saturday for the March 14 election.

Rybkin also has not contacted his wife, Albina, his close friends or staff, and didn’t answer his mobile phone. Albina Rybkina filed a missing persons report Sunday, waiting the three days required under Russian law.